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Wednesday, 12 March 2014

Green tea powder, aka matcha and maccha, is the soul of green tea cake. If you want to make good green tea cake, you have to use good quality green tea powder.

GTP has three enemies: heat, light and oxygen. The colour and flavour deteriorate very quickly unless the tea is kept in the cold, in the dark, away from oxygen.
Good matcha is sold in an airtight and lightproof metal container, and it comes with an oxygen absorber. It should be used as soon and as quickly as possible. And it should be refrigerated, even when it's still sealed.

To make green tea cake, just take whatever cake recipe you like and substitute a bit of the flour with matcha. Right?

Yes, of course you can do that. In fact, a lot of people do. But matcha and wheat flour are two entirely different things. The former consists of leaves/fibre; the latter consists of protein and starch. Compared to flour, ground up leaves absorb more water but less fat. Unless you adjust the recipe, a cake made with green tea powder would be less fluffy and more oily than one made without.

Besides the absorbancy, there're two more differences between matcha and flour.

Does matcha taste like flour? Of course it doesn't. Green tea powder is slightly bitter but flour isn't. It makes the cake less sweet.

Most cake recipes need a wee bit of salt. You shouldn't be able to taste the salt at all. It's there to round off the sweetness. Green tea cake, however, doesn't need any salt because matcha does the "rounding off". If there's salt, you'd be able to taste it.

The flavour of green tea powder is very delicate. If there's baking soda/powder in the recipe, the delicate flavour would be compromised. Hence, green tea cake should be made without any baking soda/powder.

I don't like green tea cake that's dense, salty, oily, not sweet, not brown and not "matcha-ish". Do you?

My green tea cake is made with a recipe that's dedicated to making green tea cake that's soft, fluffy, and subtly fragrant with the scent of green tea powder. It's not some vanilla cake with the vanilla yanked out and matcha bunged in.

If you want to try my recipe, be warned that the cake cracks even with cardboard insulation to help it rise evenly. The cracks close up nicely as the cake cools down but you'd still see a few lines. Here's what the cake looks like hot from the oven and after cooling down:

After baking my way through four bottles of GTP, I'm now happy with my recipe. I hope you like it too.

Looks great. I will make as soon as I get some good cream since I have some matcha that needs to get used.Any chance you can do chicken rice? I saw your recipe for white cut chicken and was hoping you had HCC and the sauces! Thanks.

I think I'm using the same type of paper liners from phono huat but mine is in white. But my cupcakes don't come out nice and round. After baking they stretch to be oval.. Do you use double layer of liners?

Hi KT, could you please tell me what are the both cake pans size in inches. I having hard time to find the exact size that you mentioned. And the measurement for cream of tartar in this recipe...1/16 tsp? Is roughly half of 1/4tsp ? Pls help! Thanks !

KT, I'm a beginner baker and OFCOZ IM FROM THE SAME PLANET AS YOURS. PLEASE DON BE SO SARCASTIC AND RUDE When people ask u in a polite way. DO NOT BE ARROGANT!!!! I forgive u just because u are on MENOPAUSE! LoL!!!!

Hi Linda, I would like to ask you something before I answer your question. Why do you single out eggs? Why don't you ask me whether I weigh flour or matcha to a T? Do you weigh flour, or convert g to cups?

KT, why do you provide liquid in gram/weight measurement? The whole point of starting a blog is to provide helpful recipes, tips and guidelines to share with your readers. When I read your readers' questions, your reply is not the most helpful. Why bother doing a blog when you appear so agitated when people are trying to seek the right information on how to go about baking your macha cake?? WHY??!

I did consider whether the cream should be sweetened but decided against it so that it tastes more like green tea, which is unsweetened. In future when you have a cake that isn't sweet enough, you can dust it with a bit of icing sugar.

Wow. You're a snooty bitch. People come to your blog to learn, and if somebody asks a simple question, it would probably take less effort on your part to simply answer vice coming up with some nonsensical half-baked pseudo-sarcasm. What planet are YOU from? Enjoy the rest of menopause.

Just wanted to say, I too, many years ago, assumed Baking, was like stir-frying. Dumping this & that, thinking they would all merge into one coherent result. And magic would happen in my oven. But No. After countless failures...and after watching many of Alton Brown's programmes, did I then realize Baking is not an Art. Baking is a Science. (involving chemistry, physics & Maths) Everything has to be exact. So, now, yes, I greatly appreciate KT' s minute attention to details ( yes, even measuring Chicken eggs, white and the yolk) and all the tips she shares. I lift my hat off to her too....for sharing the time and effort it takes her to perfect her recipes. ..if u read between the lines, I think, she made countless Green tea cakes..seeing that she went thru 4 bottles of that GTP. So, on behalf of all of us, thanks KT.

Hi, I hereby drop by to say thank you for your great work of sharing your sponge cake recipes. I tried making not less than 5 cakes using your recipe as the base and gradually found the tricks of making a better cake. Thanks to your videos which are very helpful in mastering the essential skills! Thanks again.

I'm having trouble finding aluminum pans with similar sizes to yours for this recipe. Any suggestions on how I can solve this? Is one pan okay? How much changes will it make if I leave out the cardboard insulation?

Hi KT. My Hokkaido cupcakes turn out perfectly in terms of texture and taste. But the only thing is they cracked at the top during baking, like the chiffon cupcakes. And they do not close up nicely after cooling down. Please advice. Thank you.

Hello KT, I really love your recipe, may I ask a few questions?It's really hard to find glucose where I'm living, can I leave it out?Another question is that my cake was deflated like 30-40% last time I baked, I tried to fix it but no use, it couldn't stand like yours, can you suggest me any ways to fix it please?Thank you.

Hi KT, In baking sponge cakes, some recipes calls for stiff egg whites, some calls for ribbon stage whole eggs...Do you know if there's any actual difference when both acts as leaving agents in the batter...

Hi kt,I really wanna try ur cakes. But glucose is hard to come by in Dubai. Before snapping me of,(lol) please tell me can I use corn syrup? Do they do the same job. I have ordered my glucose already.but I have to wait till it comes and wanted to try it with corn syrup if that was okay.please let me know.

Hi KT,Followed your green tea cake recipe and baked a lovely soft, moist cake. Then I recalled the height of your cake in the video and realised my cake is much taller.... Hmmm I used 4 egg yolks and 4 egg whites. I think you must have used 3 egg whites??? Thank you for all the tips and pointers in your blog, they are honest and accurate which save novice baker like me a lot of time. Thank you. Felicia.

Hi, I really love to see what you do and it looks delicious. I live in France and It is not easy to find corn oil and cake flour. Do you have any idea what kind of oil and flour that i can use? thx Carolina

I had the same issue with the cake rising a lot more than shown in the video. Did some research and turned out my egg white was beaten too stiff. I tried beating it at a lower speed and did it just long enough so it is fluffy but still pourable. It turned out just like the video, and even had the cracks on top :) my previous attempt was smooth on top. Hope this helps.

Dear Kt.Today after seeing your comment I am very sad that you could not even understand that every one are not genius like you.English is not my mother language & I have no idea what made you upset.Cooking is a passion, Sadly I was waiting for your answer from months just to see your rude reply.For kids sake you could not give answer. there is nothing wrong in correcting me but the way you gave reply I don't feel it's good.Instead of jumping into conclusion you could have first checked with me & advised me & given answer to me.Anyway I am sorry to say this & upsetting you as well.Thanks at least you took time to give that rude reply.

Your recipe is spectacular! I tried it once and it was perfect!!! Although, I know you won't like this, but I used stored bought whipcream...It tasted sooo good tho lol. Thanks for the recipe! I will make it again since they will probably be all gone by tomorrow. My family loves them ^^

Hi, KT. May I know if the butter cream is safe for eating. I mean, the egg white in the butter cream was not cook, is it ok to eat it raw?Secondly, can I beat fresh cream with butter to create another type of butter cream? Rose

Hi KT, how are you. It has been a long while and I just managed to watch & read all that I hv missed. Well done! Looks like this cake will be on my list soon just that I'm a boring person who holds only those standard shapes and sizes cake pans. Will try anyway. Cheers.

Hi KT, I did this first instead and was surprised that I do hv this pan size. Anyway, the texture of the cake is so fabulously soft! This is my kind of texture. Sweetness is just right with that added aromatic matcha taste. I did this for my mil as a Mother's Day gift. She was totally awed. Thanks again!

I did the green tea cake yesterday with wonderful results and I did this chocolate cake today for my younger daughter's birthday. Fabulous! I did my own frosting and those who ate it went "the sponge is so soft", "I thought this is store bought", "why is this cake so light" etc. Well KT, your cake speaks for itself, what more can I say. Sedap!

i'd like to try this as the top of my wedding cake (DYI'ing it), I am also in the US... i have no clue where i'd get glucose liquid or castor sugar.. Do you have any other sponges that would work for the other two tiers???

Hi KTI realized I didn't have green tea powder but I had leaves, so I rounded it and sieved it to use. But my cake wasn't green like yours, and when I took it out of the pan, it sunk in the centre. I had a bit if a concaved cake. The flavor of the cake is also very mild. Same goes for the whipped cream. The whole cake taste very mildly of matcha only.

I noticed my egg white was not very stiff when I mixed it with the egg yoke mixture. Wonder if that is the reason for the cake to sink slightly.

KT, you hv make me a proud person. This pic was my 1st attempt, beautiful? I hv since made another 2 but with added matcha powder as I love the beautiful aroma. KT, I'm not here to sing you praises. You may know that I hv followed you and did a lot of your creations with wonderful results (except for that Ogura 😫). I really mean it when I say "thank you". May God bless you for your generosity in sharing. Again, thank you.

This isn't brilliant - its a cruel attempt at humor to make one person feel good about one's self at the expense of others. If making others feel helpless is your way of celebrating your birthday, then, God forbid that you should ever find yourself in those shoes as the bank teller.

Service staff are often helpless in the face of abuse or such cruel pranks since the manta is that "customers are always right". If you had an issue with the ad, you could have written in to their Corporate Communications or whatever department they have, instead of this cruel prank.

Is there a matcha recipe that doesn't require flower? Or in other words is wheat free? My friend cannot stomach wheat and some other grains, but we both enjoy baking and I would like to bake something that we both can eat. Sorry if this is a stupid question I am new to matcha :)

Thanks for for your respond so quickly ! I Love it ! I found a product called Glucose from Wilton, " ingredients: Corn syrup" they used it for Gum paste. However, I don't think it have the same consistent "81%". I might be wrong KT, that may be the the product I've been looking for. I did used that for this recipe last night, and my cupcakes still deflated ? I will try again tonight, so frustrated ! Thank you ! Ashley

The cake looks amazing, I want to make it so much! I don't understand the gram measurements, though. Is there a conversion website you could suggest to convert the gram measurements to teaspoons/tablespoons/cups? It would help out alot.

Hi KT, just try out the recipe... and it turns out great and fluffy. Served numbers for small family member. For people out there, before you bake the cake.. read read and read the steps. Good luck guys :)

Hi KT,If I put a coin chocolate on each surface of the cupcake before baked, will it affect the cupcake texture ? I like to decorate my cupcake with choc, and coin choc is one of the idea.Appreciate the feedback, thank you.

About cups and spoons....This request never fails to baffle me. I see it so often that I am compelled to give my two cents worth. Why is it so difficult to measure ingredients using a weighing scale. I find using a cup and spoon and even a pinch of something or other to measure ingredients so much more confusing. Which cup would one use? The US cup of the British cup? I'm not sure but are they the same? and...., if I was from China..... Which cup or bowl should I use? I'm sure weighing scales are available in the US,Canada, Britain, Australia and mostly anywhere else for that matter. I know I can get one easily in this little red dot of mine.Why bother with cups and spoons when weighing scales are easily accessible and more accurate.My apologies for being Kay Poh.

Hi, just to let you know. You're awesome! I've made these cupcakes many many times and each time they were fabulous.

Today, I tried something new and I still don't know how they'll come out but we'll see >_< I put black sesame seeds (blended with the 35g of oil) and added 10g more of milk. I just wanted to let you know~ (though i don't know if you'll care...) Your blog has been an inspiration for me to bake bake bake more~ ^^

Thank you so much for this recipe and the very informative accompanying video. I've tried this recipe twice in two days and it has been fairly successful both times. The one thing I wasn't too successful at achieving was the whipped cream. After whipping to soft peaks and adding in the GTP, I managed to over whip 2 packets of whipping cream and ended up with lots of fresh green tea flavoured powder. :) I figured I shouldn't try whisking it with as much gusto as you do in the video (guess I underestimated my arm strength!) and the third packet just about made it, although not with the same uniformity of colour as yours. Will continue trying but just thought I would leave a note on the quality of the recipe. Thanks again.

Hi KT, no, I first tried using Bulla heavy whipping cream and when that failed (quite miserably!), I switched to Emborg whipping cream. The first packet was overwhipped as well while the second (i.e. third attempt) barely made the cut, although nowhere near as nice and creamy as yours. Also, save for the first attempt, my bowl and whisk were placed in the freezer prior to whipping and were thus quite cold, so I thought I had done all I could to create a conducive whipping environment. I will be making this again soon so fingers crossed it will be practice makes perfect!

(1) You must use cream with 35% fat. (2) The cream must be cold. If the cream is very cold, it's OK if the bowl and whisk aren't. If the cream isn't very cold, it's not OK even if the bowl and whisk are. (3) You must whisk at high speed. Whisking too slowly makes the cream curdle. (4) You mustn't overwhisk. That also makes the cream curdle. Reduce the whisking speed as the cream thickens.

Bulla doesn't have anything labelled "heavy whipping cream", so I'm not sure what you used. It should be "thickened cream" or "whipping thickened cream". Pasteurised cream doesn't get overwhipped as easily as UHT cream.

Hi KT. I followed the recipe to the T and the cake turned out lovely. A wonderfully springy sponge with a nice dose of matcha, a touch of sweetness, and the creamy light whipped cream frosting. Quite the delight! Thank you for the recipe!

My gosh. I'm convinced that, if anyone is not of this world, it's you KT! I tried this recipe out but I was CONVINCED nothing good would come of it because a) I was too lazy to find pans and do the cardboard thing and b) I messed up on quite a few measurements (starting from the VERY beginning with too much water and breaking an egg yolk). Despite ALL odds the cake that I have sitting on my counter IS, in fact, a cake, and it looks INCREDIBLY soft. I've never had such good results on something I was convinced would be an epic fail! I'm just... oh my gosh!

KT, you are a riot! All those people who commented negatively really have no humour! And neither do they have the wisdom to see the point you are driving at. I say bravo to you for having the audacity to pull off this cheeky prank :)

Hi KT, I forgot to add the salt here in vanilla sponge cake because i didnt see it in the procedure. Is that alright? I am baking it now and it looks gorgeous like yours KT. Thanks a lot for your patience and kindness in sharing. Grace of New Zealand

Hi KT, thanks for replying back. The cupcake turned as almost perfect like yours yes minus the salt. My husband ate three out of 6 i made. He said the best vanilla sponge cupcakes he has! Thanks to you KT. One more request pls, where cab i buy those lovely muffin cups in Singapore? I will ask my brother who lives in Pasir Ris to buy and send it here in New Zealand as you always use them in your video. Im your new follower here in downunder KT.

I was perusing the internet today looking for some awesome authentic recipes for Chinese snacks when I found myself at KT's BlogSpot. I marveled at the wonderful recipes and the technical competence of this kitchen goddess guiding me from start to finish, and I though that KT must be a culinary genius. I thought, "Who is this Kitchen Tigress"? So I googled that question, and then I came upon this thread describing your malicious and troubling prank. So now I know who is the Kitchen Tigress.

Just tried your vanilla cupcake and managed to bake 5 cupcake only. Texture is good after baking but my cupcake top is creased up not like yours so smooth. May I know where goes wrong? When I pour the batter into the paper cup, I realised there is alot of bubbles, is this normal? Appreciated your reply asap.

I baked those cupcakes the other days and filled with vanilla bean custard cream, and the matcha racists roll too. They were heavenly delicious! I would of eat them all in one sitting if I don't have good self control lol! Thanks for sharing your amazing recipe!!

I stumbled upon your blog recently and am really excited to try out some of your recipes. Thanks for sharing with us.

I would like to try out this Vanilla Sponge Cupcake recipe however I want to clarify one part about the Swiss Meringue Buttercream. You mention in the recipe to cook the egg white and sugar over 'low heat'; does this mean you literally cook it in a pot over the stove? I can't quite tell in the video, and all the other recipes I've come across use a double boiler. Thanks for the help.

I followed the recipe and used direct heat! I was terrified of burning the mixture at first but it turned out so beautiful. The icing is glossy and soft yet keeps its shape so well! This is really my favourite buttercream recipe ever! Thanks a bunch once again for this recipe KT! :) Going to try your Matcha Swiss Roll recipe next! ;)

I baked these today and they were delicious. They were gone before I could put on the buttercream. I like your hand electric whisk. What brand/model are you using? It looks very convenient, especially when I don't feel like digging out my bulky Kitchenaid mixer. Thank you for the recipe!

Hi KT, I am so tempted to bake these cupcakes just by looking at your pics :-)I have an event coming in a month and I am considering baking the cake 2-3 weeks in advance and freezing them until the night before and transferring them to the chiller thereafter. Will the cake shrink or will there be other issues to consider?